Referring to the ending of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, Oscar Wilde once quipped that “one must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.” Wilde’s remark distinguishes between the silliness of sentimentality and the genuine emotion of sympathy. With its excess of gore, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus teeters on a brink similar to that of Dickens' overwritten ending. The Grand Guignol aspects of the work are more likely to induce titillating shock and mocking laughter than they are to create the catharsis which Aristotle identified as the product of true tragedy. In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s current production, it definitely seems to be the former reactions that are being sought. The emphasis seems firmly on spectacle and provocation, though to what end is uncertain. Severed heads in plastic bags, bloody amputations, and a plastic sheet for Lavinia, complete with a light bar to accentuate the mutilation of her tongue and hands, create a display of grisly ingenuity. Director Max Webster appears intent on pursuing shock value above all else. However, there is also lots of curious hobgoblin choreography which suggests the kind of faux spookiness of Hallowe'en and, perhaps, is intended as comic element. At various points, characters deliver speeches into an antiquated microphone, whose thematic purpose is unclear, especially when contrasted with the modern chainsaw used for dismemberments. Costumes are equally eclectic: most evoke a 1930s science fiction authoritarian aesthetic, but then there is a nod to New Romanticism including leather harnesses and fetish doggy masks. The cast’s delivery of Shakespeare’s verse is precise and commendable, but their performances betray the production’s uncertainty. The tone veers wildly from bordering on farce to bombastic declamation, with it being unclear whether the play is meant to be tragic or comic grotesquerie. In the end, this Titus Andronicus provokes neither shock nor laughter, nor much reflection. We left shaking our heads and wondering what the intent had been.
Rated: ★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Genevieve Girling
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